|
Books
on Cuba
The Autobiography of a
Slave /
Bridges to Cuba/Puentes a Cuba
/
Santeria from
Africa to the New World: The Dead Sell Memories
Fidel Castro and
the Quest for a Revolutionary Culture in Cuba /
Reyita: The Life of a Black Cuban Woman in the
Twentieth
Century
Singular Like a Bird: The Art of Nancy Morejon
/
Caliban
and Other Essays /
The
Pride of Havana: A History of Cuban Baseball
Santeria
Aesthetics in Contemporary Latin America Art /
Culture and
Customs of Cuba /
Man-making Words; Selected Poems
of Nicholas Guillen
Afro-Cuban Voices: On Race and Identity on
Contemporary Cuba /
Afro-Cuba: An Anthology of Cuban Writing
on Race, Politics, and Culture
Nicolas Guillen:
Popular Poet of the Caribbean /
Selected Poetry by Nancy Morejon
/
Cuba: After the
Revolution
* * * *
*
The Quest
for the Cuban Christ
A Historical Search
By Miguel A. De La Torre
The Quest
for the Cuban Christ /
Santeria:
The Beliefs and Rituals / Ajiaco
Christianity
"A
sweeping and stunning interpretation of Cuban religion and culture,
from the religious fervor that surrounded the recent Elian Gonzalez
saga in Miami
to a religious view from the underside of Cuban history."
--Luis Daniel Leon, Arizona State
University
"A fascinating
[and] controversial interpretation of Cuban history and religions
that should be read by anyone interested in understanding North
American Latino religions and culture."
--Gaston Espinosa, University of California,
Santa Barbara
In
The Quest
for the Cuban Christ, Miguel A. De La Torre
examines symbols enriching the Cuban experience through a highly
creative historical and cultural framework. he argues that for all
Cubans, Christ must be understood through the historical analysis of
the Cuban culture and that God saves Cubans in a quintessentially
Cuban way.
De La Torre juxtaposes two disciplines long considered mutually
exclusive--liberation theology and postmodernity--to test the
relationship between the faith of marginalized Cuban groups and the
overall Cuban identity. His approach challenges the Latino academic
religious community to consider seriously and acknowledge how vastly
the Cuban religious experience differs from that of other
traditions. he also confronts the proposition that Christ can be
understood through a general Latino social location.
De la Torre analyzes key figures, groups, and periods in Cuban
history as well as the ways Christ is being depicted in Cuban art
today. His focus centers on the art created by marginalized segments
of Cuban society, both in Cuba and and the United States, to
illuminate points of view from those previously silenced throughout
Cuban history. His argument moves beyond a purely spiritual reading
to explore how Christ is created by those who were and are oppressed
by the Cuban culture, a theme that he uses to debunk the Christ of
the powerful and privileged who until recently have been the sole
arbiters of the Cuban identity.
The Quest for the Historical Cuban Christ
(an abstract) -- Miguel De La Torre
Anyone who reads the Bible does so from a
particular social location. We are all born into an ongoing society
that shapes us. When we turn our attention to the biblical text as
the source for understanding whom Christ was, we participate in a
dialogue between the written word and the meanings the dominant
community taught us to give to these words. Cubans, specially those
living in the diaspora, have been taught to read the Bible through
the eyes of white, middle-class Anglo males. Yet, can the text speak
to us through our own culture? To do so, it must be read with Cuban
eyes.
This book argues that Christ can be understood
through the historical development of Cuban culture. Clement of
Alexandria once said, "God saved the Jews in a Jewish way, the
barbarians in a barbarian way." The Brazilian Liberation
Theologian Carlos Mesters says, "God saves Brazilians in a
Brazilian way, blacks in a black way, Indians in an Indian way,
Nicaraguans in a Nicaraguan way, and so on." I would add, God
saves Cubans in a Cuban way.
As I shall argue, God’s movement in Cuban
history translates both Christian principles and an understanding of
Christ into cultural symbols understood by all Cubans, Resident and
Exilic. The Christ of the conquistadores, the apotheosis of Martí
as the ideal Cuban Christ, the Black Christ of the African slaves,
the understanding of Christ through Marianism and Cuban feminism,
and the Biblical Christ of both Catholics and Protestants are all a
part of, if not central, to Cuban identity.
As such, Cubans must come to terms with these
socio-historical dimensions formulated within the depths of our
culture. By seriously reevaluating these cultural symbols, we can
find rich resources for understanding ourselves and provide a
Christian response to the present estrangement existing between
Resident and Exilic Cubans.
The book will begin with a brief overview of the
Euro-centric project concerning the "quest for the historical
Jesus." Upon concluding that a Euro-centric Christ is impotent
for Cubans, the book will begin a historical analysis of Cuban
culture to discover a Christ, who like us, is Cuban. The book will
begin with an understanding of the Christ brought to the Island by
the conquistadores and its evolution to the Spanish Christ of
Unamuno.
With independence from Spain, the Cuban
understanding of Christ further developed through the influence of
Cuban slaves, the early twentieth century Cuban feminist movement,
and Martí. More recently, Liberation Theology and Revolution
Theology contributed to our understanding of Christ.
The final chapter of this work will tie together
all of these diverse trends by turning our attention to how Christ
is presently being depicted through Cuban art, both on the Island,
and in the States. Paintings, being revelatory, provide the observer
with insight about, and an entry into reality. Several works by
Cuban artists will be reviewed for the purpose of depicting the
mysteries of God, the construction of a Cuban Christ, and the search
for a common intra-Cuban identity. |
